A Dead Pelican?

Politics can been an endlessly monotonous grind of soul-sucking banality on top of empty platitudes and cynical opportunism.

But once in a while, things just jump up and bite you in the ass to remind you that it’s not as easy to predict as you think. And this is just one of those times.

Louisiana’s answer to the question no one was asking (“Can we replicate the awful style and tabloid obsessions of the Drudge Report with a distinctively Louisiana-libertarian Ron Paul Revolution flavor?”), the Dead Pelican, has apparently completely turned on Governor Jindal.

Questions: Is Louisiana Republican Gov. Bobby Jindal delusional? Is he trying to regain his political footing after being snubbed by GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney for the vice presidency?

Some of Jindal’s critics think it to be so, and the number of critics seem to be on the rise. Even some state legislators are beginning to take notice that the state basically has an absentee governor.

Here are some more questions to be answered. Do the people of Iowa really want to listen to Louisiana’s governor about who should be serving on their state supreme court?

Do the people of Billings, Montana really want to listen to the inarticulate Louisiana governor as he tells them who they should elect governor and how their state should be run?

Do the people in Fort Wayne, Indiana really want Jindal telling them who should be governor and how great a governor he is in Louisiana?

Those are just a few of the places Jindal has flown off to at taxpayers expense in the past few weeks.

Critics ask: Did Jindal tell the citizens of these states that his own state of Louisiana is a mess and in fiscal chaos? That after five years of his leadership, the state is still at the bottom of every good list and at the top of every bad list?

Did Jindal tell them that he is destroying the state’s public health system and the state’s educational system? Or that he is trying to privatize every government responsibility? Or that he fires anyone who disagrees with his philosophy, no matter how capable he or she may be.

These critics ponder what the reaction would be if it was former Democratic Gov. Kathleen Blanco who was doing what Jindal is doing as governor?

Remember when Republicans went berserk because Blanco shed a tear over the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina? But when their Speaker of the U.S. House, John Boehner, cries at the drop of a hat, they say he is just sensitive and compassionate.

Yet, state Republicans remain eerily silent about Jindal’s dictatorship in Louisiana as he strives toward becoming the worst governor in Louisiana history.

At least one state legislator has stepped up to try and wake up other legislators about what is going on in the state. No, he is not a Republican, but an Independent from Thibodaux,” Rep. Jerome “Dee” Richard.

He is pleading with fellow legislators for a special session so the Legislature can exert its constitutional role in state budgetary matters. He is reminding state legislators that Jindal has cut state services by almost a billion dollars without input from the Legislature.

I believe it is time for us, as legislators, to aggressively reinsert ourselves into the budget process by using the constitutional right given to us,Richard said in a letter to his colleagues. Don’t hold your breath waiting for a special session unless Jindal wants it.

The Louisiana Federation of Teachers (LFT) has issued its own call for a special session of the Legislature, just days after Richard called on his colleagues to reconvene in Baton Rouge.

While Richard seeks to focus on post-session fiscal issues, LFT President Steve Monaghan said legislators should return to reconsider Jindal’s education package, which was passed early in this year’s session.

Another example: Lawmakers from southwest Louisiana say they were caught off-guard by the abrupt action of the Jindal administration to close a state prison in DeQuincy, the C. Paul Phelps Correctional Center. No input was requested.

Critics contend that Jindal is more concerned about his national political ambitions than about the state of Louisiana since he is term-limited and can’t seek a third term as governor.

Their criticisms seem to have credibility as the governor continues to travel to any state that will welcome him.